Bufy squeaks and dances
Bufy, our water buffalo; she’s an eccentric character, a theatrical personality, an affectionate joyful HUGE beast! (Mind the horns!) We adore her and so do the guests. But she’s not like a cow or a cat or dog, for that matter.
Since just a teenager now, she’s still learning how to pull the plow and finds it a bit boring, tends to just stop and lie down in the watery mud until we all throw water on her, give her cooing-wooing sounds and bribe her with some grass. Her trainer sites her as being spoiled and lazy. Oh, my!
Aspects of owning a water buffalo – She . . .
- supports the strength of a small elephant
- tends to collapse for hours into the river or subak
- loves eating all forms of grass, which includes rice. (Oooops, sorry Balinese farmer next to us. Our pet water buffalo just happened to eat half your rice crop).
- likes to lick your hand or bump up against you with her mud-poo soaked body
- butts you with her head (again . . . mind the horns) when she wants to play.
- verbalizes in the form of a little squeak to say “Hello, come pet me.” Or “Sorry, please don’t leave; I didn’t mean to knock you to the ground . . . was just jokin’ around.” Or “I’d sure love a handful of fresh clean grass; yes I know I’m a messy eater and all this other grass is full of mud now.”
You can hear Bufy squeak and watch her dance in this video, where we’ve tried to create a space for her to dance about and release her from the rope that goes through her nose that keeps her tethered.
